The Aztecs are good. They’re just not that good. They’re certainly not 2010-11 good. Not even 2011-12 good. Yet. They often seem just good enough to get by, not good enough to win all the games they should win.

They have yet to find “it.” They may never find “it,” which can be elusive even for those who know where to look for “it,” and coach Steve Fisher normally has a built-in GPS for this sort of thing.

But if you coach a men’ college basketball team in this country, you do not want to play San Diego State. Because when the Aztecs are on their defensive game, as they were Saturday afternoon in their 75-53 boat-racing of Fresno State here in Fisher’s Funhouse, it often doesn’t matter how well they shoot twos, threes or free throws (which they too often do not do well).

They get you at the other end of the court. They’re long, they’re athletic, they’re spring-loaded and they have quick hands and feet. If they’re up to it, they get you. They remain really hard to play. They are a workout.

“We have to get better,” Fisher would say after guiding his team to its 18th win in 23 starts. “We’re like everybody else. When it looks easy, it’s not easy.”

The Aztecs leashed the Bulldogs in Saturday’s first half. With 2:33 to go before intermission, the visitors had made four of 25 shots from the floor (16 percent). Yet because the hosts weren’t exactly going all arson on the nets themselves, they ended up leading just 25-17 at the break.

“Especially in the first half, really as we played through most of the game, defense was front and center,” Fisher said. “One of Fresno’s strengths is how hard they play. We didn’t allow people to get good shots, and that will win for you.”

That’s true, most of the time, depending on the team you’re playing, because some schools just don’t play defense (or offense). And face it, Fresno (8-15) is not Duke. But the Bulldogs took SDSU to the brink in their place on Jan. 9, when the Aztecs managed a 65-62 win. No matter. The Dogs can’t shoot a lick, and when facing a defense like State’s in its own building, they must make something once in a while to have a remote chance.

The Dogs upped their final shooting percentage to a still-putrid 29 percent, but the sure sign of a bad team is one that misses shots and free throws when they matter and makes them when it has no chance to win, such as in Saturday’s garbage time, when the Aztecs were playing guys they pulled out of gym class. With just under 10 minutes to play, SDSU led 57-28.

“We’re a team that, if we buy into, “Let’s be the best defensive team in the country,” then, yeah, we’re good enough and smart enough to grind you,” Fisher said. “There have been times when we haven’t made our threes (a terrific 8-of-16 Saturday), and if we don’t make them, let’s guard, and then, even if we don’t make baskets, we have a chance.”